enow.com Web Search

Search results

  1. Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
  2. Comprehension of idioms - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comprehension_of_Idioms

    The Literal First Hypothesis. The literal first hypothesis suggests that an idiom is first processed literally upon encounter. [4] Idioms are often ambiguous since they may be processed in two ways: literally and idiomatically. For example, kick the bucket can be interpreted as to strike the pail with one’s foot. The literal first hypothesis ...

  3. Literal and figurative language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/.../Literal_and_figurative_language

    Literal language is the usage of words exactly according to their direct, straightforward, or conventionally accepted meanings: their denotation. Figurative (or non-literal ) language is the usage of words in a way that deviates from their conventionally accepted definitions in order to convey a more complex meaning or a heightened effect. [ 1 ]

  4. Literary language - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_language

    The modern literary style is generally used in formal writing and speech. It is, for example, the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. Novels, even popular ones, will use the literary style for all description and narration and use the colloquial form only for dialogue, if they use it at all.

  5. Idiom - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiom

    For example, oil the wheels and grease the wheels allow variation for nouns that elicit a similar literal meaning. [11] These types of changes can occur only when speakers can easily recognize a connection between what the idiom is meant to express and its literal meaning, thus an idiom like kick the bucket cannot occur as kick the pot .

  6. English phrasal verbs - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_phrasal_verbs

    Kids grow up so fast these days b. You shouldn't give in so easily. In these examples, the common verbs grow and give are complemented by the particles up and in. The resulting two-word verbs are single semantic units, so grow up and give in are listed as discrete entries in modern dictionaries. These verbs can be transitive or intransitive.

  7. Developmental linguistics - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developmental_linguistics

    Speech motor learning is an important part of the linguistic development of infants as they learn to use their mouths to articulate the various speech sounds in language. Speech production requires feedforward and feedback control pathways, in which the feedforward pathway directly controls the movements of the articulators (namely the lips ...

  8. Conduit metaphor - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conduit_metaphor

    In linguistics, the conduit metaphor is a dominant class of figurative expressions used when discussing communication itself (metalanguage).It operates whenever people speak or write as if they "insert" their mental contents (feelings, meanings, thoughts, concepts, etc.) into "containers" (words, phrases, sentences, etc.) whose contents are then "extracted" by listeners and readers.

  9. Elocution - Wikipedia

    en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elocution

    Elocution is the study of formal speaking in pronunciation, grammar, style, and tone as well as the idea and practice of effective speech and its forms. It stems from the idea that while communication is symbolic, sounds are final and compelling.